Chapter Two
My hands are cold, my body's numb
I'm still in shock, what have you done?
My head is pounding, my vision's blurred
Your mouth is moving, I don't hear a word
- Exit Wounds, The Script
In the eight months that had passed since I'd first joined SHIELD, I had learned that night air isn't always cool and pleasant.
In fact, it could be downright horrible. Here in Calcutta, the air was so thick and humid that it felt more like I was drinking than inhaling. I sucked in a deep breath, nearly choking on the muggy substance that filled my lungs. Leaning back against the wall, I reached up to wipe the sweat that had been forming off my brow. When I brought my hand back down again, I pulled a face at the puddle of water on it. Jesus. I hadn't even been doing anything. I'd just been sitting here, watching through the window on the building opposite as Banner examined and treated a sick family.
Now that I thought about it, that's all I'd been doing for eight months. Trailing Banner was the highlight of my day. All day, everyday, twenty-four/seven. It wasn't that the man himself was dull - it was simply that he had a routine, stuck with it, ... and spoke in a language I didn't understand. I mean, I could recognize a couple of words that were used frequently in my little "social circle"; words like 'doctor' and 'sick' and 'hurt'. Mainly, though, I relied on the tone of people's voices to figure out what was going on.
Well, not Banner's voice. The way he spoke... it was always like he was just on the verge of breaking out into a wry smile. Only when something was really wrong, or when he was trying to calm a panicked child, did his voice reflect his emotion. I had to watch his body language to figure out what was going on in head. And even then, that was hard. He never relaxed. He was always fiddling with his glasses, or clasping his hands together nervously.
In all my time watching him, I had never seen him angry.
Another thing I had never seen? The thing I was supposed to be looking out for: Banner's enemies. According to Fury, there were people after him, people who wanted to use the Hulk for personal gain. While I didn't doubt that at all, there'd been no sign of anyone who looked even mildly threatening.
Up until now.
My eyes narrowed as I spied the same three men I had seen earlier today - as well as a couple of times yesterday. Calcutta was a big, bust city; the odds of seeing the same people in less than twenty-four hours were slim. Plus, these guys were obviously not from around here. All of them were tall, muscular, obviously well-fed, and had military style crew cuts. Unlike the locals, they stood straight and walked with purpose, hands tucked behind their backs as they observed everything with sharp eyes.
The thing that really tipped me off was that they were trying to hard. Trying to hard to act inconspicuous, trying to hard to not make eye contact, trying to hard to blend it. It was obviously unnatural. They stood in a perfect triangle around the square, occasionally attempting to signal each other discreetly (a term I use loosely there).
When Banner came out of the house, I pushed myself up to my feet. After rolling my shoulders and shaking out my legs, I made to leap down from the balcony, but something stopped me. As Banner made his way across the square, the three goons I had been keeping an eye on exchanged nods and headed off in the same direction the good doctor was going in. I froze, my mind whirling as I attempted to come up with a plan.
Turning on one heel, I darted off, deciding that staying above the situation would put me in a better position should I need to take action. I sprinted along the rooftops, arms outstretched to help me keep my balance. Banner was a good three hundred yards in front of me, with his stalkers trailing along behind him. I leapt down to a lower level and hit the concrete running. My eyes were always locked on either Banner or the men following him, because I was not about to lose them.
And then Banner turned down an alley. I let out a string of curses, skidding to a halt and trying to find a way to continue to follow him. As I couldn't fly, getting to the rooftops on the other side of the road was out of the question. Looked like I was grounded.
I paused for a moment, unsure of how to get down, before noticing a clothes line out of the corner of my eye. After taking in a deep breath, I propelled myself off the edge of the rooftop, hands outstretched. My stomach churned dangerously for that moment where I was in midair, with nothing to support me, but that nervous feeling quickly disappeared when my hands wrapped out the piece of rope. With a jerk, I stopped falling and started sliding down towards the ground, my weight dragging the rope lower and lower.
Finally, I was dangling just feet above the ground. I let go and took off again, setting my sights on the alley into which the four men had disappeared. Weaving my way through the crowd, I managed to make it to the backstreet in a matter of seconds.
It was longer and darker than I had expected for it to be. Shadows danced along the walls and dirt path, and the atmosphere was entirely different; it was like I had stepped into a bubble, where the air was still and the sounds of the busy city couldn't reach me. I peered ahead, and a frown immediately formed. Banner was just exited the alley... but I had no idea where the other three were. Suddenly, I was on high alert, adrenaline coursing through me. Everything seemed sharper, more focused. Each sound was amplified.
I put one foot forward, then slowly placed the other in front of that. The other men... they had to be here somewhere. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a round, metal stick that was bound in leather. If fit perfectly in my palm. Using my thumb, I pressed a small button on the back end of the handle. The soft sound of metal rubbing up against metal filled the air, and a smirk played at my lips as I watched my blade elongate from the other side of the handle. Soon, I was holding a saber.
To be honest, I didn't really like my new, SHIELD approved toy all that much. It just felt unbalanced and awkward. Plus, the way it was designed, how the blade was folded up inside the handle until I pressed the button to make it come out... well, I just didn't really trust its stability. I'd been assured that this saber had been made by Tony Stark himself, but what did he know about fencing? The man made - or used to make - guns and bombs. This was completely different. Still, a fold-up, grab-and-go saber to conceal; I probably would have freaked a bunch of people out if I'd just started walking around with my blade hanging at my side.
There was a clicking noise behind me, and my insides went cold when I recognized that sound; someone had just readied their gun. I let out a deep breath, trying to keep calm.
"Put your hands up where I can see them," a gruff voice commanded. As soon as he spoke, his other two companions came out of the shadows and moved to stand in front of me, both of the raising pistols. "And drop the... sword."
After a moment's pause, I let the blade fall onto the top of my foot. Then I slowly raised my hands above my head. "You know, you guys aren't exactly subtle," I commented, eyeing them slyly as the two in front of me advanced cautiously. "I take it none of you have ever done theater before?"
"Be quiet," the one on my left, a middle-aged blond man, snapped. He jabbed his pistol at me. "Who are you?"
"Do you want me to be quiet, or answer your question. I can't do both, you know."
"Don't be a smart ass. Tell us who you are."
An easy grin formed. I supposed that was just how I did things - if I was under pressure, if I was trying not to act nervous, I just turned it around and acted like an arrogant smart ass. Acting like something I wasn't was a shield for me. "Alright, alright. You got me. I'll tell." I paused, turning my head so that I got a good look at the two in front of me. The middle-aged one was clearly a real solider - you could tell from the scars on his hands and jaw, by the way he held himself. Speaking of the way he held himself, he was leaning on his left leg. There must have been something wrong with his right; a true solider would never lean to one side for no reason. An old wound, perhaps?
The other looked as though he'd just joined up. I could see that his gun was shaking slightly, like he was either afraid to use it, afraid of me, or unsure of how to hold. That last one had always been my biggest problem. "Have you gentlemen ever heard of SHIELD?"
Based on the way their eyes widened and the frantic exchanged glances, I guessed that yes, they had in fact heard of SHIELD. The blond solider, who I'd now pegged as their leader, narrowed his eyes at me and all but spat, "SHIELD has no business with Banner. General Ross made that crystal clear to Fury." He paused then raised his gun. "Maybe we should help to send another message..."
Just as I saw his finger begin to tighten on the trigger, I kicked upwards, sending my saber flying into the air. In one swift movement, my hand shot up and caught it, then flipped the handle around. I brought the blade back behind me, wincing only slightly as I heard the man behind me scream when the tip of the saber pierced his skin.
I jerked the saber forward again, not even pausing when the newly wounded man crumpled to the ground. I dropped into a forward roll, coming up just in front of their leader. Swinging my leg around, I dead-legged him in what I assumed was his bad leg. It worked like a charm; with a cry of pain, he collapsed. I jumped to my feet, then slashed one of his Achilles' tendons to make sure he stayed down. The sound he made was not human.
He whimpered, like a kicked puppy, but as he'd just attempted to kill to send Fury a message, I wasn't in an all that sympathetic mood. Crouching down on one knee, I leaned in and breathed against his neck, making him shudder. "Send a message to Ross," I mocked. "Tell him that Banner is under my protection, so back. Off."
A loud bang sounded over my shoulder and something hit the wall just above my head with such force that bits of concrete showered down on top of me. I whirled around to find the boy playing solider holding out his gun with a shaky hand, his finger perched on the trigger. I felt for him; there were frightened tears in his eyes.
But there was something else: resolution. He had already made up his mind - he was going to shoot me.
My eyes widened, and I held my hands up in a gesture for him to back off, but before I could even begin to open my mouth, he pulled the trigger again.
I could hear the bullet whizz past the side of my head, missing me my mere inches. Without thinking, I turned and sprinted towards the mouth of the alley, keeping low and attempting to not run in a straight line, like I was avoiding a T-Rex or something. While I didn't think this guy's aim was all that great, there was no need to test that theory by giving him an easy target. My heart pounded in my ears, but it didn't drown out the gun fire happening around me. Some primal desire to not die gave me more speed than I had ever had before, and although it seemed like a lifetime, I knew that I burst out from the alley in a matter of seconds.
Oh, thank God. I had made it. I had really made it. I -
"Aaaah," I gasped suddenly. A blinding pain shot through me, and I grasped at my side. My hands were instantly soaked in warm, sticky blood. I stumbled forward, trying to get a good look at the wound - I didn't... remember getting shot. I hadn't felt it happen.
But then I closed my eyes and remembered the last time. The delay... the delay had been the worst part. Those few seconds of just waiting to feel it. Of not knowing what it was going to be like. I drew in a deep shaky breath and tripped over to a wall I could lean against for support. Even as I did that, my entire side began to grow numb. My vision blurred, and my eyelids began to grow heavy. The pain... Shit, that hurt.
I had to get out of here. There were so many people and I couldn't... I had to get away. Already, people were starting to crowd around the alley. Gunshots could draw a crowd in any place. I could hear the terrified screams of women and the husky voices of men as they shouted commands and questions, trying to figure out what was going on. People were in a state of panic.
I couldn't let them link me to that. I had to keep my cover.
Staggering, I pushed through the gathering crowd, hand pressed against my side to stop the bleeding, desperate to get just a little further away before I collapsed. My mind was hazy, and all I wanted to do was sleep. Each breath brought a new, sharper stab of pain. But sleeping would stop all that. Sleeping would end the pain. I couldn't feel my side anymore. Sleeping... Pain... Sleeping...
Before I knew it, I was on the ground, my cheek pressed to the dirt. Huh. Sleeping on the ground had never been comfortable before, but now... now it was appealing. With a long exhale, I closed my eyes, my mind already beginning to shut down...
A shriek shattered the silence that had momentarily overwhelmed me. Suddenly, everything snapped into focus, and I was fighting an uphill battle to stay awake. I inhaled sharply, struggling to push myself up. I almost made it to a sitting position, too, when my arms gave out from under me and I landed in the dirt again. The burst of pain with that made me let out a loud moan.
People were gathering around me, gasping when they saw the pool of blood I was laying in. Through the fog that had started to settle over me, I vaguely heard someone call out for a doctor.
No, I thought desperately, taking in a ragged breath. There was only one doctor in the area right now - and I couldn't let Banner see me. My cover... I couldn't blow my cover, couldn't let him find out he was being watched. The whole point was to make sure that I was to protect him - from afar. "I'm fine," I managed to get out. "No doctor. I'm fine." I shook my head reverently, but there cries for help only increased.
Idiot. They don't speak English.
"No... doctor," I tried again, clumsily stumbling over their language. "No need. No doctor."
No one seemed to listen to me. I tried to protest some more, but I slowly started to succumb to the dizziness, the sleepiness.
Then, I heard the deep, rich voice that belonged to the man I was supposed to be avoiding - and protecting. I should have bolted upright and sped off, not giving him enough time to see me. But my limbs were heavy and the pain was too much for me to fight. Instead, I just laid there.
My vision glazed over, but I somehow managed to make out a pair of big brown eyes. They were filled with swirling emotion - worry, fear, compassion, and... anger. Suddenly, a large, rough hand was on my forehead. It pulled back one of my eyelids, and I instinctively let out a growl, albeit a weak one.
"I'm fine," I slurred.
Banner took his hands of me, then looked down at me with a reprimanding, somewhat amused grin. "Sure you are." Then, he looked away and began calling out commands the native language.
I groaned and closed my eyes, wanting nothing more than to just end this pain, end this torment. Sleep. I just wanted to sleep...
"Stay with me," a voice called from afar.
Or maybe not afar. But it sounded far off and distant, like the person was underwater. I couldn't tell anymore. I couldn't fend off the darkness. I couldn't...
And with that, blackness covered everything.